Oxenfree

Yes it's a dialogue game but damn, what an experience I just lived this night! I've been caught up by the story from beginning to end (about 5 hours), ended up emotionnally attached to every character, loved the athmosphere of the island, the music, the story, the moral, everything. I don't play that much these days, as I don't watch blockbusters anymore because of superficiality, but sometimes I find the jewel in the indie scene, and Oxenfree falls in that category: it's a game that has something to say, and you will remember it like a nice memory.

I have terrible internet where I am, so between when I bought it, and when I actually downloaded it to try, I had forgotten everything about it. In essence, I was walking into the game completely blind, including on what "type" of game it was in general. Pros: Graphics are nicely done; stylized in a manner that fits the atmosphere of the game. Background music is superb, and the voice acting in it was overall solid. I liked the story (Not going to go into any details on why, though, to avoid any spoilers), even if I'm far too old now to relate to the teen angst portions of it. I'll likely do another playthrough or two at some point for the few things I didn't find first time, and to explore some of the other dialog progressions. Cons: Some game mechanics aren't explained ahead of time, like the short time allotted to pick a dialog choice, but that becomes evident in the initial minutes of the game. Walking is slow paced, and noticeably so in some areas, which while it didn't bother me, I can see being a put off for some players. Doubly so if they don't connect at all to the banter between characters. My playthrough took around 5 hours, with finding about 3/4s of the collectibles. Despite the short play time, and a few minor cons, I still feel it's worth the 5 star rating I gave it. It's a good looking, nice sounding game with a collection of characters that have more depth than I expected from them. I found the story compelling, in part due to the interactions between the group of friends, and the ending (even if not the ideal one) satisfying. I will caveat my rating, though, by noting that I bought it on sale. Had I paid full price, I may have reduced it one star for the short play time.

You find yourself on an island with a couple of friends. You probably read it in the description already. But what's it like to spend a few hours with your friends exactly? Started playing this game tonight and it's really fascinating in a way: * The island is beautiful, I really like these drawings * The characters are fitting, they look great * It's a positive thing that the characters have voice acting (which is not obvious in this category), and it's well-made However, there's a few things which really bother me and some of them might even make me stop playing this game before I reach the conclusion of the story: * No volume controls. Not a dealbreaker, but seriously? How can anyone release a game in 2016 without volume controls? * It's extremely slow as the protagonist crosses the screen. Takes ages to get from one side to the other or climb some stairs. The setting is beautiful, but don't force me to watch it. If I want to admire it, I'll just stop and stare at the screen to feel the beautiful scenery. * You have exceptionally short time to select from your dialogue options. By the time you read them, they mostly start to fade out already and you need to click on something or they are gone. * Unfortunately, in a lot of cases, your response dialogue options appear on the screen before the other character has even finished talking. This, combined with the quick fadeout of the dialogue bubbles makes chatting with the others a painful job. The voiceovers are great, but why am I forced to select my response even before they finished talking? I want to listen to a full, finished sentence with a period or question mark at the end. Only after THAT I wanna care about my responses. It totally ruins the fun in dialogues for me. Would I recommend this game? Not sure. Probably I would, as it's a good game. But only if you're not a person who gets angry when he's forced to respond to things which weren't even spoken yet.

I really enjoyed this title, let's get that out of the way. It's a wonderfully atmospheric tale, spun in a meaningful and interesting manner, filled with mystery and spooks and fun. That's not to say it is without it's problems. Pros: - Great Atmosphere - Fitting,cool synth-y soundtrack - Funish Characters (More on that later) - Charming art style - Engagingly spooky and mysterious Essentially, aesthetically, this game hits it out of the park. Cons: - QoL treatments needed - Writing subverts messaging at times Ok, so, QoL first. Certain aspects of handling the 'game' portion (Being your actual interaction with the medium) could use some tuning up. The controls lag a bit, which I'm sure was purposefully implemented to make the character feel 'real', but still could use some tightening. There are sections where walking is the ONLY thing you are doing, with no dialogue adding flavor to walking down yet another spooky path. Small gameplay tweaks would have really added to the experience of the game. My final negative is more of a personal, subjective complain but it bears mentioning. The writing FEELS written. That might not make sense but each character is quippy, whip smart and a little too ironic/hip. This would be fine in a John Hughes movie but the writing really undercuts some of the more heavy moments of the title. Something would happen that would be shocking or surprising to a character and, afterwards, they would quip with something like, "Oh WOW! That was a weird thing that happened! Sure hope no one got a picture!" Obviously, that was broad brush strokes, but I can't explain further without going into spoilers territory. This isn't going to be a bad thing for everyone, but the writing sometimes really undercuts the horror/spoopy atmosphere for a quick, one liner joke that bogs the experience down a bit. Certainly not a dealbreaker but worth a mention. Overall, I recommend this quirky, weird "horror" title.

Loved the game, loved the music and atmosphere, cute art style, characters were really nicely done. all had great personalities. Love the choices, even if i am sure many don't matter in end,i think its just that type of a game, but still, i enjoy choosing answers. The story was the most confusing part the more i play the less i get, in the end i had no idea what happened and why, soo yea :/ Thats why i gave it 4 stars, very confusing story. But overall great game, not to long and not to short.